My initial observation is that reception is greatly improved. I did notice this issue on my 32gb however I never lost service completely. The guy above seemed to have no problems with a bumper. Does anyone else have a bumper yet to tell us if it fixes this or not? If a bumper is all it takes to fix it I wouldn't be as upset since I am planning on purchasing a case anyways. Maybe now we know why Apple ultimately decided to enter the phone case business after all.
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iPhone 4 Drops Calls when Left Corner is Touched
- Thread starter dagomike
- Start date
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What I don't get is that the moment I saw the design, I knew that shorting was a potential flaw, and assumed that Apple had done something clever to mitigate the risk. I'm no engineer.
I find it hard to believe that people that know what they're doing could have made such an oversight when it seemed so obvious.
I find it hard to believe that people that know what they're doing could have made such an oversight when it seemed so obvious.
confirmed.
Only the left hand side join seems to make reception drop.... but from 4 bars to 2 bars so not so bad.
UK vodafone 3g network.
anyway bumper case will be put on now
Only the left hand side join seems to make reception drop.... but from 4 bars to 2 bars so not so bad.
UK vodafone 3g network.
anyway bumper case will be put on now
No, this absolutely has to do with the hardware. AT&T don't know how you're holding your phone! When I saw it on the keynote, I thought that it must have been tricky isolating the two antennae properly. Now we know that is!
The problem must be that under certain circumstances the 3G antenna is retuned slightly due to connection with the wi-fi antenna. That's enough to reduce the signal a bit, so it probably only drops the call when the signal is already weak. It may also depend on characteristics of the user's skin - sweaty palms will improve the electrical connectivity, but I don't know whether that'll help or not. Quite likely the bumpers will help.
Why wasn't this picked up in testing? It's quite an esoteric problem, and will only be noticed by a left hander in a poor signal strength area. And often, it'll just be put down to a poor signal.
I didn't read all the comments in here but this is my theory:
As you can see, the left band serves as the antenna for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS while the right antenna is used for UMTS and GSM. When you touch the top or lower left gap you connect both bands and the signals are irritating each other until they eventually drop.
Most importantly: Everyone who is using neither Wi-Fi nor GPS nor Bluetooth doesn't have a signal coming from the left antenna, so there's nothing to irritate the right antenna when connecting both by touching.
It would be great if anyone could proof this by testing if this issue still appears when turning off the mentioned services and if people who couldn't reproduce yet try to turn on these services.
As you can see, the left band serves as the antenna for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS while the right antenna is used for UMTS and GSM. When you touch the top or lower left gap you connect both bands and the signals are irritating each other until they eventually drop.
Most importantly: Everyone who is using neither Wi-Fi nor GPS nor Bluetooth doesn't have a signal coming from the left antenna, so there's nothing to irritate the right antenna when connecting both by touching.
It would be great if anyone could proof this by testing if this issue still appears when turning off the mentioned services and if people who couldn't reproduce yet try to turn on these services.
That's a great theory -- and makes some sense. This, combined with the fact that people are electrically different (skin conductivity etc) may explain the lack of consistent results.
That's exactly what I'm thinking,
it would great if someone could test this - above mentioned - hypothesis above!
I am wondering: is the iPhone supposed to defy all the laws of physics when being used or what? Just hold it properly and wait for a software update which is surely coming soon.
My bet is that ppl wouldnt even have noticed it if not for some overzealous bloggers.
My bet is that ppl wouldnt even have noticed it if not for some overzealous bloggers.
listen if it has anything to do with hardware then it's a bad batch. I can lick the side of my new iphone all day and it doesn't short anything out, drop any bars, or stop any data from transferring. So obviously this is a problem for some, and others it's not. So lets rethink this whole 'design flaw' mentality and focus on the more likely issue of a bad batch, or intermittent quality control issues. If it was an overall design flaw then everyone here should be encountering this problem.
32gb iPhone 4 - no connectivity issues when held in the left hand
32gb iPhone 4 - no connectivity issues when held in the left hand
I am wondering: is the iPhone supposed to defy all the laws of physics when being used or what? Just hold it properly and wait for a software update which is surely coming soon.
My bet is that ppl wouldnt even have noticed it if not for some overzealous bloggers.
Oh they would notice it - specially left handed users... lol
However, most likely blame would be put to service providers rather than Apple.
Does anybody ever reply to messages on here or are we just posting mindlessly?
Anyway, I tried this guy's theory turning off gps wifi and bluetooth and still drops to 1 bar when held with left hand.
I would like to know this aswell? does anyone not experience this problem and will this be fixed by apple because its pretty pointless having a phone which drops calls.
Use a Penny so we can get consistent results
Could everyone testing this please just use a penny to short the gap between the antennas (as airbai has done)? And short the left side, top and then both gaps.
This would reduce many inconsistent results from the different conductivity in peoples skin.
Thanks
Could everyone testing this please just use a penny to short the gap between the antennas (as airbai has done)? And short the left side, top and then both gaps.
This would reduce many inconsistent results from the different conductivity in peoples skin.
Thanks
Could everyone testing this please just use a penny to short the gap between the antennas (as airbai has done)? And short the left side, top and then both gaps.
This would reduce many inconsistent results from the different conductivity in peoples skin.
Thanks
I tried with 5 cents, it even went down to the "Searching..."
lol
Fancy Magic Trick! 5 bars to no bars!
Thank god for Apple I'm a 20 year loyalist, otherwise these problems would have me crazy. I can't wait until my coworker, a former Blackberry user, starts hearing about and having these problems; I won't hear the end of it!
I went ahead and tried this myself, with a nice left handed grip on the iPhone 4, I watched as my signal dropped from 5 bars to no bars. I let go and watched them go back up again to 5 bars. I did this a few times until I wasn't amused any longer.
Now that I paid $29 for a bumper which is on it's way, and couldn't seem to ship any sooner than today, I think it will be fair for Apple to be offering credits for the bumpers or comparable case at $29 or less.
In case anyone hasn't tried this yet, I did the same maneuver but had a cloth napkin insulating my hand from the iPhone and the same grip, and had no signal loss.
Let's see some free bumpers here Apple!
Thank god for Apple I'm a 20 year loyalist, otherwise these problems would have me crazy. I can't wait until my coworker, a former Blackberry user, starts hearing about and having these problems; I won't hear the end of it!
I went ahead and tried this myself, with a nice left handed grip on the iPhone 4, I watched as my signal dropped from 5 bars to no bars. I let go and watched them go back up again to 5 bars. I did this a few times until I wasn't amused any longer.
Now that I paid $29 for a bumper which is on it's way, and couldn't seem to ship any sooner than today, I think it will be fair for Apple to be offering credits for the bumpers or comparable case at $29 or less.
In case anyone hasn't tried this yet, I did the same maneuver but had a cloth napkin insulating my hand from the iPhone and the same grip, and had no signal loss.
Let's see some free bumpers here Apple!
